Sunday, March 27, 2011

Ronald Numbers

I recently attended the Madison Science Pub to hear the speaker, Mr. Ronald Numbers. He's the author of Creationists: From Scientific Creationism To Intelligent Design, which is the definitive book of the history of creationism in the United States. (Highly recommended.) I learned two important things from his talk. One, he happens to be a professor at the University of Wisconsin, which means I'm going to have to try and take one of his courses sometime. And two, creationism is expanding worldwide.


The late Stephen Jay Gould was once asked about creationism, and, according to Numbers, replied that it was a primarily American phenomenon, confined mostly to the southern states, and would never catch on in countries abroad.

That prediction proves that brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong.

Today, creationism has taken strong root overseas, primarily in the pan-Arab world, and is surprisingly strong in Europe. We secularists, who once bragged about how enlightened and secular Europe was in comparison to the United States can no longer be quite so smug. According to Numbers, those who doubt evolution has risen to a shocking 40% in Great Britain, fueled by a conservative revival and an influx of Muslim immigrants. Islamic immigration is a pan-European phenomenon as well, with cultural clashes taking place in France, Germany, Holland, The Netherlands, and even the Scandanavian triad.

Meanwhile, creationist arguments which have been so effective in the U.S. have been picked up and echoed by Muslims in the East. Turkey is now the most hostile country to evolution in the entire world. Islamic fundamentalism feeds off of creationist doctrine, fanning the flames of religious extremism to white-hot temperatures in the Arab world.

And now I hear on the news of potential revolution in Syria.

This is damned serious, folks. What happened in Tunisia last January has erupted into a pan-Arabian revolt against all dictators. They want democracy. Good for them. But democracy creates dangerous opportunities for radical fundamentalists to rob people of freedom. Hell, the U.S. has been ample proof of that!

So, folks, it's time to stop handling creationists with kid gloves. In order for democratic freedom to stabilize in the Arab world, fundamentalism must be toned down.

And that means creationists in every country, especially this one, had better shut up! Human freedom depends on it! So if you just happen to be a creationist...

Back the fuck off!

Eric

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